HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds have gone up in smoke as local councils continue to spend cash on Coventry's scrapped incinerator scheme, the Telegraph can reveal.

New figures show that Coventry City Council has paid out up to £666,000 on a plan to replace the Whitley incinerator since the leader of the council called for a review of the scheme eight months ago.

The city council claims the bill is split with Warwickshire County Council and Solihull Borough Council, and says some of the £666,000 could have been paid for work that took place before the plans were ditched.

But campaigners are furious that cash was spent on a scheme that was “dead in the water” – and is still being spent months after it was axed.

Keith Kondakor, of Warwickshire Friends of the Earth, said: “When everything started going wrong last April and the project was on its knees that should have been the time to stop the spending.

“But as usual the council officers went into Titanic mode: ‘The ship’s sinking but let’s all carry on with the orchestra playing’.

“I’m angry that all this money has been paid to consultants on a project that was doomed.”

A previous Freedom of Information request by the Telegraph revealed that by April last year the three councils had already forked out £1.7 million on plans to build a private finance initiative (PFI) waste plant.

But after last May’s elections both Labour and Conservative councillors cast doubt on its cost-effectiveness.

In June the council withdrew the planning application for the new Whitley plant and in September the council confirmed plans to repair and run the current 1970s incinerator instead.

But new figures show significant sums were being spent on the project as late as November.

And the councils continue to fork out cash as the team tasked with driving the scrapped PFI scheme is still in place.

No one at Coventry city council was available to talk to the Telegraph but in a written statement the council said that the formal decision to scrap the plan wasn’t confirmed until a meeting in October.

It states: “Inevitably it takes time to wind down a project of this size. Some costs shown as incurred post the 20 October decision actually relate to the months preceding the decision.

“The project team slowed down the work commissioned from external advisors in advance of the council decision to stop the project, in order to minimise the costs that would arise.”

No one has been able to say when the team spearheading the axed project will be disbanded.

Mr Kondakor said: “The director of the project said it was finished in July so how can he still be drawing a salary in January?

“There are so many urgent things to spend money on. This is a dreadful waste.

“We should really be looking to get some money back from the consultants because they’ve obviously given duff advice.”